As homeless numbers spike, Massachusetts turns to hotels

Monday

Sep 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMSep 29, 2008 at 3:58 AM

The number of homeless families has exploded in recent months, advocates say, filling emergency shelters beyond capacity and forcing the state to place some homeless families in hotels and motels around Massachusetts.

Peter Reuell

The number of homeless families has exploded in recent months, advocates say, filling emergency shelters beyond capacity and forcing the state to place some homeless families in hotels and motels around Massachusetts.

In addition to the 2,500 family shelter units already full, another 550 families are now housed in hotels and motels throughout the state, said Juan Martinez, director of communications for the state's Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

About 25 of those 550 families have been placed in the region West of Boston, with 19 families now housed in a Framingham hotel, and other six families in Northborough, Martinez said.

"We're seeing a definite increase," he said Monday. "The last resort for us is to go the hotel/motel route. It's not the option we prefer, but we're not going to leave people homeless."

As low-income families struggle with increasing utility costs, high gas prices and steep increases in the cost of groceries, many, even those who receive rental subsidies, are finding themselves short at the end of the month.

The result for many, said Robin Frost, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, is eviction.

"The number of families has spiked dramatically as of around the beginning of August," she said. "I think it's got a lot to do with the economy.

"The strain, between the heat, gas costs and food costs, families weren't able to keep up anymore. The same way we're feeling it, they're feeling it more."

Part of the difficulty, said Michael Dineen, treasurer of the MetroWest Outreach Connection, is most low-income families simply don't have any financial safety net to fall back on.

"These people have no safety valve at all," he said. "If they have a problem with an oil bill, or uncovered medical expense, or if, for some reason, they have a reduction in the number of hours they work, they're in big trouble."

And if they hit trouble in the form of an eviction, Dineen said, it's unlikely they'd be able to get housing assistance again.

With nowhere else to go, many turn to shelters.

"The number of families that are in shelters are the highest they've been in history," Frost said. "It is the perfect storm."

But the solution, Dineen said, isn't to simply build more shelters.

"(We should) go the route the South Middlesex Opportunity Council is trying right now, and that's to try to get people permanent housing," he said.

Not only does that offer families the most stable solution, it may also be the cheapest.

As it stands now, Dineen said, it costs more than $5,000 per month to house a family of four in a shelter. Last year, his organization helped 129 families avoid eviction, at an average cost of just $857.

"We're seeing similar problems in New York and Connecticut," Martinez said. "The economic pictures, including increases in food and fuel costs, and all these things have nationally impacted families. We're seeing an example of that in Massachusetts."

Peter Reuell can be reached at 508-626-4428, or at preuell@cnc.com

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